The Cambridge Natural History Part 28

FAM. 1. BALAENOPTERIDAE.--This genus _Balaenoptera_ includes the Rorquals, which are Whalebone Whales of large size, differing from the Right Whales in three important external characters: the head is comparatively small; there is a dorsal fin; the throat is marked by numerous longitudinal furrows. The bones of the cranium are not so arched as in the Right Whales, and as a consequence the plates of baleen are shorter. The hand is only four-fingered. The cervical vertebrae are for the most part all free. One of the earliest records of a Whale stranded in the Thames was probably of a species of this genus in the year 1658, and is thus described by John Evelyn:--"A large whale was taken betwixt my land b.u.t.ting on the Thames and Greenewich, which drew an infinite concourse to see it, by water, horse, coach, and on foot, from London and all parts.... It was killed with a harping yron, struck in the head, out of which spouted blood and water by two tunnells, and after an horrid grone it ran quite on sh.o.r.e and died. Its length was 58 foot, heighth 16; black skinn'd like coach leather, very small eyes, greate taile, onely two small finns, a picked snout, and a mouth so wide that divers men might have stood upright in it; no teeth, but suck'd slime onely as thro' a grate of that bone which we call whalebone, the throate yet so narrow as would not have admitted the least of fishes ... all of it prodigious, but in nothing more wonderful that an animal of so greate a bulk should be nourished onely by slime thro' those grates."

Professor Collett has recently given[236] an elaborate account of the characters and habits of this great Whale (_Balaenoptera musculus_). Though a large beast (44 to 67 feet in length) it is exceeded by other Rorquals; it is of a dark grey blue colour above, white, for the most part, below.

The dorsal fin is large and high; the flippers relatively slender and small. The whole throat from the {356} symphysis of the jaws to the middle of the belly is, as in other species, marked by furrows, forty to fifty-eight in number. The hairy covering is reduced (in an adult female) to thirteen hairs on each side of the lower jaw; in a foetus there were also seven hairs on each side of the upper jaw, as well as rather more on the lower jaw--altogether, forty-eight. This Whale appears to feed chiefly upon small Crustacea, especially the Copepod, _Cala.n.u.s finmarchicus_. The number of baleen plates is about 330 on each side of the jaw. This Whale sometimes swims singly, but usually in schools of even as many as fifty.

Rudolphi's Rorqual (_B. borealis_) seems to be a perfectly inoffensive beast; it is said to be able to stay under water for as long a time as twelve hours.

A smaller species than the last is _B. rostrata_--at the outside 33 feet in length. Here the hairy covering is reduced[237] to "two small hairs on the integument covering the apex of the lower maxilla." The colour is greyish black above, the underside white. On the other hand, _B. sibbaldii_, the Blue Whale, is the giant of its race, reaching a length of 85 feet. Its colour is a dark bluish grey, with small whitish spots on the breast. The dorsal fin is small and low with straight margins.

_B. musculus_, the Finner, is intermediate in size--not more than 70 feet.

It seems doubtful whether the "sulphur bottom," _B. australis_, of Antarctica and _B. patachonica_ differ specifically from this.[238]

The genus _Megaptera_ is very near _Balaenoptera_, but differs from it mainly in the following external and internal characters. The dorsal fin is not very prominent, and its place is taken by a lowish hump, whence, indeed, the common name of this Whale, "Humpback." The pectoral fin is unusually long, and the creature uses it to beat itself, the surrounding water, and, more playfully, its mates. The general outline of this Cetacean is more clumsy than that of _Balaenoptera_. The most important internal difference is in the form of the scapula, which has at most a slight acromion and coracoid process. These are rather more p.r.o.nounced, according to Messrs. van Beneden and Gervais,[239] {357} in the southern form of the genus, which is known as _M. lalandii_. The head, it should also be remarked, is studded with large tubercles about the size of an orange, which seem to be hyper-trophied rudiments of the hairs, which should be present in this region of the body. As is the case with other Whales, numerous species have been made out of individuals of _Megaptera_. Captain Scammon, who observed many "gams" or herds of these Whales, remarked[240]

that he had extreme difficulty in finding any two individuals precisely alike! The best-known species in any case is the northern _M. longimana_, which occurs on our own coasts. The genus is, like so many Cetaceans, world-wide in range; and it is possible that the difference in the scapula already referred to may justify the separation of a southern _M. lalandii_ (with which in that case, perhaps, _M. capensis_ and _M. novae zelandiae_ will be synonymous). Quite recently M. Gervais has insisted upon a _Megaptera indica_ from the Persian Gulf. _Megaptera_ grows to a length of 50 to 60 feet. Seventy-five feet have been stated, but measurements of Whales have usually to be received with caution.

_Rhachianectes_, with but one species, _R. glaucus_,[241] the "Californian Grey Whale," is the last genus of the family Balaenopteridae. This Whale is but imperfectly known anatomically; but quite sufficient has been ascertained to show its great divergence from _Balaenoptera_ or _Megaptera_. The dorsal fin is completely absent, and the throat pleats, so characteristic of the typical Balaenopteridae, are reduced to two. It has, however, the general outline of a Rorqual, with a relatively small head. In osteological characters it tends to unite the two families Balaenopteridae and Balaenidae (if they are really necessary subdivisions). The skull is on the whole Rorqual-like; but its fore-part is narrow as in the Greenland Whale, and the premaxillaries are pinched up in the middle line so as to be visible from the side; this again is a Balaenid character. The cervical vertebrae are free as in Rorquals, and the sternum is quite as in that group. The scapula has more the shape of that of _Balaena_.

_Rhachianectes glaucus_ is confined to the Pacific, and has been extensively hunted from the sh.o.r.e. It is not, however, a very valuable Whale, since the baleen is short as in Rorquals, and the {358} beast, moreover, appears to be fierce, a somewhat rare attribute of Whales. It has been spoken of, indeed, as "a cunning, courageous, and vicious" animal.

_Rhachianectes_ is essentially a coast Whale, and loves to lie in the surf in quite shallow water waiting for the tide to float it off. This Whale varies much in colour from black to mottled grey and black, and reaches a length of about 40 feet.

FAM. 2. BALAENIDAE.--The Right Whales of the genus _Balaena_ are to be distinguished from _Neobalaena_ and from the Rorquals by the following characters:--

The size is large, 50 to 60 feet. There is no dorsal fin. The head is more than or nearly one-fourth of the entire length of the animal. The baleen is very long. The throat is not grooved. The orbital process of the frontal is not wider than the downward process of the maxilla. The cervical vertebrae are all fused. The scapula is rather high. The hind-limb has the rudiment of a tibia. The intestine has no caec.u.m.

A vast number of different genera have been founded on detached bones, bits of whalebone, and more or less complete skeletons of Right Whales coming from different parts of the world. In Dr. Gray's catalogues we find the following allowed, viz. _Balaena_, _Eubalaena_, _Hunterius_, _Caperea_, _Macleayius_. The number of "species" distributed among the genera is some thirteen or more, with whose names we shall not trouble the reader. As a matter of fact there are not more than two species which can with certainty be identified and distinguished, both of which are so close that they cannot possibly be placed but in the same genus, _Balaena_. In no group of Whales--in no group of animals probably--has imagination run riot to so terrible an extent in the formation of genera and species as in these Right Whales. This multiplication or rather division of genera has arisen from an old idea that Whales coming from different seas must be of different kinds, a notion now thoroughly exploded.

The term "Right Whale" simply means that the Whales of this genus are the right kind of Whale for the whaler to pursue. Their whalebone is longer and more valuable, while the oil is not only more abundant but of a superior quality. The two species demand a separate account.

The Greenland Whale, _Balaena mysticetus_, is one of the rare instances of a Whale which has an exceedingly limited range in {359} s.p.a.ce. It is absolutely confined to the Arctic Ocean, and reported occurrences on our coasts are due to a confusion with _B. australis_, to be presently described. At the "Devil's d.y.k.e," near Brighton, there is, or was, the skull of a most flagrant Rorqual, which is carefully labelled "Greenland Whale." This Whale grows to a length of 50, 60, rarely 70 feet. It is black in colour, save for a white patch on the under side of the jaw. The head is quite one-third of the body in length. There are a few scattered hairs at the extremity of the jaws. The length of time which this Whale can endure immersion has been variously stated. The utmost limit of endurance is stated by Scammon to be one hour and twenty minutes. The pursuit of this Whale is attended by dangers, not in the least because the animal is itself fierce and ready to attack, but simply on account of the velocity with which, and the great depth to which, it will dive, and also to the huge muscular force which is exerted in its struggles to free itself from the harpoons. It is indeed an extremely timid beast. It has been remarked that "a bird alighting upon its back sometimes sets it off in great agitation and terror." Combined with this timidity of disposition is an intense affection for its young, "which would do honour," observed Scoresby, "to the superior intelligence of human beings." Yet that trader and observer goes on to remark that "the value of the prize ... cannot be sacrificed to feelings of compa.s.sion"! The fact that this Whale and its congener, _B.

australis_, feed among swarms of minute pelagic creatures, which they engulf in their huge mouths, led the ancients to believe and a.s.sert that they fed upon water only. When the Whale feeds it moves along with some velocity, taking in huge mouthfuls of sea water with the contained organisms, which are then strained off by the whalebone and left stranded upon the tongue.

Unlike its congener, the southern Right Whale, _B. australis_,[242] is world-wide in distribution, avoiding only the Arctic regions. Where the Greenland Whale is found _B. australis_ does not exist. The princ.i.p.al differences which it shows from _B. mysticetus_ are firstly in the relatively shorter head and shorter and coa.r.s.er whalebone. In the second place it has more ribs, fifteen pairs as against thirteen; but there is apparently some little confusion in the matter of ribs. An additional rib at the end of the series {360} is apt to get lost, and in the skeleton of so huge and unmanageable a beast there is nothing more unwise than to insist upon, as specific characters, what may be due merely to defective preparation. This Whale has often, and the Greenland Whale also, a rough h.o.r.n.y protuberance upon the snout known as the "bonnet." The causation of this is not clear. It has been spoken of as "a rudimentary frontal horn."

But this suggestion of an Ungulate affinity can hardly be accepted. It seems to be more like a kind of corn.

This Whale was once more abundant on the coasts of Europe than it is to-day; it was much hunted by the Basques in past time. The Whale which frequented the Bay of Biscay was usually called the Biscayan Whale or _B.

biscayensis_; but there is probably no specific difference. Among the small towns which fringe the Bay, it is very common to find the Whale incorporated into the armorial bearings. "Over the portal of the first old house in the steep street of Guetaria," writes Sir Clements Markham,[243]

"there is a shield of arms consisting of Whales amid waves of the sea. At Motrico the town arms consist of a Whale in the sea harpooned, and with a boat with men holding the line." Plenty of other such examples testify to the prevalence of the whaling industry on these adjoining coasts of Spain and France. It appears that though the fishery began much earlier--even in the ninth century--the first actual doc.u.ment relating to it dates from the year 1150. It is in the shape of privileges granted by Sancho the Wise to the city of San Sebastian. The trade was still very flourishing in the sixteenth century. Rondeletius the naturalist described Bayonne as the centre of the trade, and tells us that the flesh, especially of the tongue, was exposed for sale as food in the markets.

M. Fischer,[244] who, as well as Sir Clements Markham, has given an important account of the whaling industry on the Basque sh.o.r.es, quotes an account of the methods pursued in the sixteenth century. It was at Biarritz--or as Ambroise Pare, from whom Fischer quotes, spelt it, Biaris--that the main fisheries were undertaken. The inhabitants set upon a hill a tower from which they could see "the Balaines which pa.s.s, and perceiving them coming partly by the loud noise they make, and {361} partly by the water which they throw out by a conduit which they possess in the middle of the forehead." Several boats then set out in pursuit, some of which were reserved for men whose sole duty it was to pick out of the water their comrades who had overbalanced themselves in their excitement. The harpoons bore a mark by which their respective owners could recognise them, and the carcase of the animal was shared in accordance with the numbers and owners of the harpoons found sticking in the dead body of the Whale. At this period the fishery was at its height. But it continued to be an occupation along those sh.o.r.es until the beginning of the eighteenth century, after which it gradually declined. The fishery of Whales began to be carried farther afield than the sh.o.r.e, and for a long time the Basques furnished expert harpooners to whaling vessels proceeding to the Arctic seas. A curious example of the continuance of the fishery until at least 1712 is given by Sir C. Markham. In the parish records of Lequeito for that year, it is noted that a couple were married who possessed between them all the necessary outfit for a whaling cruise.

The genus _Neobalaena_ is interesting from more than one point of view. Its size compared with its gigantic relatives is small, some 16 or 17 feet. The genus bears the same kind of proportion to _Balaena_ that _Kogia_ does to _Physeter_ among the Physeteridae. It is one of those Whales which are very restricted in habitat; up to the present it is only known from the Antarctic region in the neighbourhood of New Zealand and South Australia.

Structurally it is in a few points intermediate between the Right Whales and the Rorquals. The head is proportionately (as well as, of course, actually) not so large as in _Balaena_. There is a falcate dorsal fin; but the head in outline is not Rorqual-like in spite of its similar proportions. The whalebone is long. The throat is not grooved. _Neobalaena_ has forty-three vertebrae, of which the cervicals are all fused. There are as many as seventeen or eighteen dorsal vertebrae, the largest number in any Cetacean as far as is known. With these are articulated not eighteen but only seventeen ribs. The first dorsal vertebra appears to be without a rib. The ribs are very broad and flat. The body thus gets an appearance of a Sirenian. The lumbar vertebrae are fewer than in any other Cetacean, being only two. The scapula is more like that of the Rorquals than that of the Right Whales; {362} that is to say, it is long and not very high. The skull is most like that of _Balaena_, but the process of the frontal arching over the eye is broader relatively than in _Balaena_, and thus approaches _Balaenoptera_. Nothing is known of the viscera of this Whale.

The whalebone is white, and the animal was first described by Dr. Gray from pieces of "bone." It is not always that so fortunate a diagnosis of specific or generic difference has been made from a structure which apparently offers so little aid for discrimination.

There is but a single species of the genus which is named _Neobalaena marginata_.[245]

SUB-ORDER 2. ODONTOCETI.

The _Odontoceti_ have teeth but no whalebone; the blow-hole is single; the skull is not symmetrical; some of the ribs are two-headed.

FAM. 1. PHYSETERIDAE.--This family of the Odontocetes may be thus defined:--All or most of the cervical vertebrae are fused together. The costal cartilages are not ossified. In the skull the pterygoids are thick and meet in the middle line; the symphysis of the mandible is long. Teeth, more or fewer, are found in both jaws, but those of the mandible are alone functional (? exc. _Kogia_). The pectoral limb is smallish. The throat is grooved by two or four furrows.

This family of Whales is again susceptible of division into the two sub-families--Physeterinae or Sperm Whales and the Ziphiinae or Beaked Whales. Professor P. J. van Beneden was strongly against any subdivision of what is here regarded as a perfectly natural family, embracing the Physeters and the Beaked Whales. There are, however, some reasons for the subdivision. The Ziphiinae have a reduced series of teeth, never exceeding two on each mandible, which contrasts with the fully-toothed mandibles of both _Physeter_ and _Kogia_. The stomach of the Ziphioids is extraordinarily complicated even for a Cetacean. The small head of the latter group, which recalls in a curious way that of Mosasauroid reptiles and some Dinosaurs, is in contrast to the {363} enormous head of the Cachalot and the very fairly-developed skull of the "Pygmy Sperm Whale."

Both, however, furnish spermaceti, and in various osteological details come near together. On the whole we incline towards separating the Cachalots from the Ziphioids, and shall therefore commence with the former as being in some respects the more primitive members of the family Physeteridae.

SUB-FAM. 1. PHYSETERINAE.--This sub-family may be thus defined:--Teeth in lower jaw numerous. No distinct lachrymal bone. Stomach with only four compartments (? as to _Kogia_).

Of this sub-family the best-known genus is _Physeter_, including the Sperm Whale or Cachalot. Of other reputed species we shall speak later. The genus is characterised in the first place by its large size--as much as 82 feet of length have been a.s.signed to _Physeter macrocephalus_; but Sir William Flower thought that 55 or possibly 60 feet might be a better approximation to the greatest length of the Cachalot. The head is enormous, a third of the length of the body, and terminates in a ma.s.sive and bluntish snout.

This is, however, not so abruptly truncated as is often represented in figures. According to Messrs. Pouchet and Chaves,[246] it slopes forward two metres beyond the end of the lower jaw; the mouth is thus ventral and almost shark-like in position, as is the case also with the Pygmy Sperm Whale, to be considered later. In connexion with this peculiar position of the mouth, it has been a.s.serted--Mr. F. T. Bullen figures it[247]--that the Sperm Whale turns over upon its back to bite. The blow-hole is single, and shaped like the sound-hole of a violin; it lies upon one side, and is not median in position. The throat is grooved as in the Ziphioids by two grooves. The dorsal fin is represented by a whole series of lowish humps, decreasing in elevation from before backwards. The pectoral fins are not large relatively speaking. The great square head is not occupied entirely by the skull; the cavity lying above, which is of course traversed by the tube ending in the blow-hole, is filled with the spermaceti, which is fluid fat during the life of the animal. Spermaceti also occurs in other Whales; and that of _Hyperoodon_, whence it has been extracted for commercial purposes, is said to offer no differences of importance from the spermaceti of the {364} Sperm Whale. Spermaceti as a drug appears to have been first mentioned in the pharmacopoeias of the famous medical school of Salerno towards the year 1100. But it was confounded with a totally distinct substance, viz. ambergris. The confusion was also made by the famous alchemist Albertus Magnus, and by the observant Archbishop of Upsala, Olaus Magnus, in his work _De gentibus septentrionalibus_. It was supposed in fact by these writers to be the liberated sperm of the Whale, hence obviously the name. Later on, the substance in question was regarded as the brain of the Cachalot, in fact as late as the middle of the eighteenth century. It was Hunter and Camper who really discovered the true nature of the substance, oil of course, in the cavities of the skull.[248] The huge skull of _Physeter_ "is perhaps the most modified from the ordinary type"

of skull in the whole mammalian cla.s.s.

The top of the skull rises into a huge crest lying transversely, and from it slope forward two lateral crests formed from the maxillary bones; in this great basin lies the spermaceti already referred to. The skull, as in Toothed Whales generally, is exceedingly asymmetrical. The right premaxillary and the left nasal bones are much larger than their fellows; indeed the right nasal is hardly present as a separate bone. The parietal if present is fused with the supra-occipital. The jugal is large, and is not divided into two pieces as it is in the Ziphioids. The pterygoids meet below for a considerable distance, as in many Dolphins, and in the Edentata among other mammals. The symphysis of the lower jaw is very long, but the bones do not appear to be ankylosed. The length of the symphysis recalls that of the Gangetic Dolphin, _Platanista_.

In the vertebral column the atlas alone is free, the remaining cervicals being fused. There are only eleven dorsal vertebrae, eight lumbars, and twenty-four caudals. The breastbone of this Whale is a roughly-triangular bone made up of three pieces. Four cartilaginous sternal ribs are attached to this bone. The scapula is remarkable for the fact that it is concave on the outer and convex on the inner surface; otherwise it is quite typically Cetacean in form. The shortness of the pectoral limb is shown by the phalangeal formula, which is as follows:--I 1, II 5, III 5, IV 4, V 3.

{365}

One of the reasons for the pursuit of the Sperm Whale is the desire to obtain that extremely valuable product ambergris. This substance has long been known; but its true nature was for centuries in dispute. In Dr.

Johnson's _Dictionary_ (so recently as the edition of 1818!) ambergris is provided with alternative definitions; it is either the excrement of birds washed off rocks, or honeycombs that have fallen into the sea!

An old writer a.s.serted of ambergris that it was "not the sc.u.m or excrement of the whale, but issues out of the root of a tree, which tree, howsoever it stands on the land, alwaies shoots forth its roots towards the sea, seaking the warmth of it, thereby to deliver the fattest gum that coms out of it, which tree otherwise by its copious fatness might be burnt and destroyed." These "explanations" were caused by the fact that ambergris is sometimes found floating in the sea. Ambergris is, of course, a product of the intestinal ca.n.a.l of the Sperm Whale; it seems to be of the nature of cholesterin, and its place of origin was conclusively proved by finding the beaks of cuttle-fish imbedded in it. When first extracted from the alimentary ca.n.a.l it is of greasy feel and consistency; later it hardens, and acquires its characteristic sweet earthy odour. Ambergris is used mainly as a vehicle for scents, and is a costly substance. A piece weighing 130 lbs. was valued at 500. Though now entirely used in connexion with perfumery, it was held by the ancients to be of great value as a specific in certain diseases.

The Sperm Whale is chiefly a tropical animal. Examples that have been cast up on our sh.o.r.es are strayed individuals. It often goes about in herds, which seem to be composed of females. Its food is chiefly cuttle-fishes, and it is said to have a predilection for those colossal cuttle-fishes whose existence has until recently been doubted. Mr. Bullen has sketched a conflict between these two giants of the deep. On the other hand it is said that its large throat, more than big enough to swallow a man (the Whale is credited with being that which swallowed Jonah), does not usually admit fishes larger than Bonitos and Albacores.

The ferocity of the Cachalot has been denied and affirmed. It certainly has great strength, for it can throw itself completely out of the water.

Captain Scammon thinks that ships which are mysteriously lost at sea, with no obviously a.s.signable cause, are sometimes the victims of the furious rushes of a bull {366} Sperm Whale. Marco Polo took much the same view, but suggested that the Whale did not deliberately attack the ship, but was deceived by the foam following in its wake into thinking "there is something to eat afloat, and makes a rush forward, whereby it shall often stave in some part of the ship."[249]

Sir W. Flower and many others are of opinion that there is but one species of Cachalot. But many names have been given to supposed other forms. The genus itself has even been divided, and to a set of vertebrae from the south Dr. Gray gave the perfectly superfluous name of _Meganeuron kreffti_.

The "High-finned Cachalot" rests mainly upon the suggestions of Sir Robert Sibbald. It is supposed to have a high dorsal fin, and teeth in the upper as well as in the lower jaw. Common though it was a.s.serted by its describer to be, there is not a bone, not a fragment even of a bone, alleged to belong to _Physeter tursio_ in any museum in the world! It seems premature, therefore, to include this mysterious creature in any list of Cetacea, though that was done by no less a naturalist than the late Mr. Thomas Bell.

It is this creature round which most of the stories of ferocity congregate.

It is held to be the monster from which Perseus delivered Andromeda, and which was about to devour Angelica upon the sh.o.r.e of Brittany. The fact of the matter is, that the Sperm Whale, like so very many other Whales, is world-wide in range; and those naturalists who did not believe in so wide a distribution found themselves obliged, in order to satisfy their own views, to create new species for those of distant localities. Hence the dozen or so of synonyms which refer to what is to be called _Physeter macrocephalus_.

The genus _Kogia_ (sometimes written _Cogia_), the so-called "Pygmy Sperm Whale," is a southern form of much smaller dimensions than its gigantic ally just described. _Kogia_ does not exceed 15 feet or so in length. It differs from _Physeter_ also in the well-marked and falcate dorsal fin, in its generally delphinoid form, in the short snout, and the more normal (for a Whale) shape of the blow-hole, which is crescentic.

There are also a number of osteological characters in which the two Physeterines differ from each other. In _Kogia_ all the cervical vertebrae are ankylosed together; the skull is short, though equally asymmetrical; the ribs are as many as twelve or {367} fourteen; the scapula has not the concave face that it has in _Physeter_. The functional teeth of the lower jaw seem to be reinforced by two on each side of the upper jaw. Moreover, the articulation of the ribs with the vertebrae does not show the very anomalous state of affairs that characterises _Physeter_, where the two heads of a rib may be upon one vertebra.

While there is no doubt as to the generic distinctness of _Kogia_, there is again the same difficulty that is met with throughout the whole of the order in settling into how many species the genus requires dividing.

We can dismiss, as unnecessary, additional generic names (_Euphysetes_, _Callignathus_), but there do appear to be reasons for allowing two species, if the accounts of their osteology are to be depended upon. One of these is _K. breviceps_, with thirteen pairs of ribs, no teeth in the upper jaw, fourteen or fifteen on each side of the lower jaw, vertebral formula C 7, D 13, L 9, Ca 25, and phalangeal formula I 2, II 8, III 8, IV 8, V 7.

The other will then be _K. simus_, with fourteen pairs of ribs, two teeth in the upper jaw, nine in each ramus of the lower jaw, vertebral formula C 7, D 14, L 5, Ca 24, and phalangeal formula I 2, II 5, III 4, IV 4, V 2.

A Californian species has been called _K. floweri_, whose teeth seem to be particularly long and recurved. And the New Zealand _K. pottsi_ has been held to be also a distinct form. There seems to be nothing of special interest to record about the way of life of these Cetaceans, which are but imperfectly known.

SUB-FAM. 2. ZIPHIINAE.--Teeth in the lower jaw not more than two on each side. A distinct lachrymal bone. Stomach with very numerous compartments.

These Whales are all of moderate size, not exceeding 30 feet or so in length. They have a falcate dorsal fin rather near the end of the body; the muzzle is prolonged, hence the name often given to them of "Beaked Whales."

The throat is grooved; the blow-hole is single and median, crescentic in form, with the concavity pointing forwards. A character possibly differentiating the Ziphioids from other Whales is the fact that the body ends in a rounded projection between the flukes of the tail. This has at any rate been noted in _Mesoplodon_, _Ziphius_, and _Hyperoodon_. The Ziphioid Whales are by no means common; indeed of _Berardius_ but four or five specimens have ever been {368} met with. Most of them are southern in range, and the vast stretches of desolate coast which occur in these regions of the world account possibly for the rarity of their remains.

These Whales have done duty more than once for the "Sea Serpent." Quite recently an alleged sea serpent turned out to be a couple of _Mesoplodon_ lying head to tail! The head in these Whales is small compared to the body.

The skull is characterised by the strong maxillary crests, enormously developed in the male _Hyperoodon_. The vertex of the skull too is raised, forming a p.r.o.nounced prominence behind the aperture of the nares (blow-hole); in many forms the rostrum is made of very dense bone, and is thus relatively abundant in rock strata. The pterygoids meet in the middle line as in the Cachalot. In addition to the few functional teeth in the lower jaw there are more numerous but small teeth in the upper jaw. These are not always to be recognised, as they are not attached to the bone, but merely imbedded in the gums, so that they come away when the skull is prepared.